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Cowichan emerging as a force in the wrestling community

Cowichan Valley Wrestling Club athletes are competing nearly every weekend

The Cowichan Valley Wrestling Club took 23 wrestlers to the Western Canada Wrestling Club Championships at the Richmond Oval the weekend of Jan. 20.

“The coaching staff were very impressed with all the grit, tenacity and athleticism shown by all the Cowichan wrestlers,” said coach Nick Zuback.

Four wrestlers brought home gold.

Ronny Carrerio (Kelsey) won the 51kg U15 boys division, Leon Tsuboi (QMS) took first in the 48kg U17 boys division, Carter Zuback (QMS) won the 55kg U17 boys division and Beatrix Klatt (Quamichan) was tops in the 63kg girls division.

“Ronny battled extremely hard and showed tremendous grit in all of his matches. Leon came from behind in his gold medal match to beat one of the best 48kg wrestlers in the province,” noted Zuback. “Carter went 4-0 and only gave up two points in the entire tournament. He was also awarded MVW on the boys’ side by the provincial development coaches.”

The medal haul didn’t stop there.

“As a team, Cowichan placed eighth out of 55 clubs in the tournament,” Zuback said.

Capturing silver medals for Cowichan were Antonio Lannidinardo (Kelsey) in the 71kg U17 boys division, Ripley Fox (QMS) in the 57kg girls U17 division, and Jordanna Crawford-Starter (Kelsey) in the 46kg U15 girls division.

Bronze medalists were Elijah Cote (NCS) in the 48kg U17 boys division and Emma Greenwood (QMS) in the U17 69kg girls division.

Grant Parmar (QMS) and Georgia Bond (QMS) both finished the tournament in fourth place while Brayden Zuback (QMS), Manny Iannidinardo (ECH), and Savannah Screaton (QMS) all came fifth in their respective weight classes.

Mason Martin (Quamichan), Rui Wang (QMS), and Loryn Roberts (QMS) were all sixth.

Also representing Cowichan at the tournament were Benjamin Cote, Joah Green, Cameron Healey, Jacob Meiner, Jordan He and Gabe Carrerio.

Cowichan wrestlers were back in Vancouver on the weekend of Jan. 28 at the Seaforth Cup at the Seaforth Armory.

Rose Wu (QMS) took top spot in the 51kg senior girls class.

“Rose dominated the field without giving up a single point,” Zuback said.

Wrestling up a weight class in the 58kg class, Carter Zuback also won.

“Carter showed no signs of being out-muscled as he teched all his opponents, improving his record to 19-1 this season,” said coach Zuback.

Iannidinardo also captured his second gold in as many weeks.

“He displayed a wide variety of techniques throughout all of his matches on his way to victory,” noted Zuback.

Rei Nagatomi (Kelsey) won the 73kg senior girls class.

“She executed her signature single leg attack to defeat all her opponents,” added the coach.

Bouyed by a host of other successful wrestlers who also made the trip, Team QMS finished third overall in the senior girls division followed by Frances Kelsey in sixth place and Quamichan in ninth place out of 17 schools represented.

In the senior boys division QMS finished the highest among local schools in 11th place out of 25 schools represented. In the junior girl’ division, Frances Kelsey finished fourth overall and in the junior boys division Frances Kelsey finished ninth, Quamichan 14th, and QMS 15th.



Sarah Simpson

About the Author: Sarah Simpson

I started my time with Black Press Media as an intern, before joining the Citizen in the summer of 2004.
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